HSBC bank has written to Finsbury Park Mosque and other Muslim organisations in the UK to tell them that their accounts will be closed.
The reason given in some cases was that to continue providing services would be outside the bank’s “risk appetite”.
The wife and teenage children of a man who runs a London based Islamic think tank have also been contacted.
HSBC said decisions to close accounts were “absolutely not based on race or religion”.
“We do not discuss relationships we may or may not have with a customer, nor confirm whether an individual or business is, or has been a customer. Discrimination against customers on grounds of race or religion is immoral, unacceptable and illegal, and HSBC has comprehensive rules and policies in place to ensure race or religion are never factors in banking decisions.”
The bank said it was “applying a programme of strategic assessments to all of its businesses” after a $1.9bn fine in 2012 over poor money-laundering controls. “As a result of these ongoing reviews, we have exited relationships with business and personal customers in over 70 countries. The services we provide to charities are no exception to this global review,” the bank added.
Finsbury Park Mosque in north London [pictured] was written to by HSBC on 22 July. The only reason given for the intention to close its account was that “the provision of banking services… now falls outside of our risk appetite”. In the letter, the bank notifies the treasurer of the mosque that it will close the account on 22 September.
Khalid Oumar, one of the trustees of the mosque, questioned the motives behind the letters. “The letters that have been sent and the letters that we received do not give any reason why the accounts were closed in the first place,” he said. “That has led us to believe that the only reason this has happened is because of an Islamophobic campaign targeting Muslim charities in the UK.”